Of Cowboys and Dusters
by x.WhisperTheseWords.x
Summary: Rose is living the cowboy dream, living in Arizona. Or not. She hates the bugs and the blazing heat but there she meets a mysterious, dark haired guy in a remarkable duster that catches her eye...AU! T for some swearing!


**Hellllooo my fellow fanficers. I may be breaking the first rule of writing (only write about what you know) but I couldn't help it. I was off in my daydreaming when I imagined a long dusty road of houses, that didn't exactly look like your average houses. I realised that it was somewhere in Arizona. Then something happened— that I can't say right now because it's going to be put into this story—that made it have a Vampire Academy twist. I've been contemplating whether or not to write this story, since I know nothing about Arizona or cowboys or anything like that. ****So, if you guys like it (which can be showed by clicking the review button :D) I'll continue it. BUT only if you like it; I really can't write without reviews. They are my motivation.**** And btw **_**Dimitri is a year older than Rose (who is 17) and Tasha (don't hit me!) is the same age as Rose.**_** Okay, enough of my ranting. On with the story. **

When Abe told me we were moving to Arizona, my first thought was: he's joking. My second thought was: there better be mobile phone reception. My third thought was: he wants to turn me into a cowgirl.

Surely enough, after lots of heated arguments and door slamming, three weeks later I was squished in the front seat of a stuffy beat down old car, with all the windows rolled down. It was boiling. The dry heat was a bitch. There was no escape. Even when there was a merciful breeze from Mother Nature, hundreds of particles of sand swept up in the gust and blew straight into my face.

I shuffled around, peeling my skin off the leather seat, only for it to touch another scolding area. A warm, wet tongue darted to my exposed shoulder and started to lick every inch of it.

"Tank!" I yelped, pushing the dog's face away from me. "Get the hell off me!"

Abe gave a raspy laugh, looking at the backseat of huddled dogs. "That'd a boy."

I slit my eyes at him, wiping drool from my shoulder. Yep, sitting in a hot, sticky car that smells of dog. Literally. Abe is a professional Anatolian Shepherd dog breeder, and I'll admit, he's pretty good at it. His prey seems to be families. He goes right up to them, congratulates the parents, makes a joke with the children then says "You know what's missing here?" and whips up his business card. _Mazurs' Mutts._ When the cute puppy picture grabs the children's' attention, he leans in close to the parents and says "For me, a house becomes a home when you add one set of four legs, a happy tail, and that indescribable measure of love that we call a dog." Bada bing bada bong. He's reeled them in.

And it was as easy as that, which is why this move is a mystery to me. Abe claims that he wants a peaceful life now, living in the rural lands of Arizona, sipping beer and grilling Arizona Trout on the barbeque. Ha. Seriously, old man? It's not like we're swimming in money or anything fortunate enough to let us have a luxurious life relaxing in the Caribbean. And I doubted it was an investment move, unless cowboys had suddenly up roared for expensive pedigree pups. Abe, like me, always has an ulterior motive.

We finally pulled up at a small wooden house. In the middle of nowhere. Okay, maybe that's a bit of exaggeration. Despite a school and a neighbourhood being 15 minutes away, that's what it looked like from here. I trudged up to the front door, rattling the knob.

"Old man, where's the key?" I crossed my arms, looking unhappy. Abe pulled at a bit of white string around his neck, took it off and threw it to me. "I don't see a point to why it's locked. I mean, there's _no one_ here to steal from it."

The house was filled with our stuff; Abe had been here before to unload the delivery truck a few days ago. I _was_ meant to go with him but I was still pissed at him for doing this to me. I'd threatened to stay with mum if he actually went through with this. Which, of course he called my bluff. There was no way I was ever going to live with Janine. She was lost in her karate business. Work, to her, was like breathing. She never stopped. After I was born, she gave me up to my dad to look after whilst she carried on her dream career. We occasional see each other, and when we do, well, let's just say it's not all hugs and kisses.

There was no food in the house. So dinner was Doritos and humus dip, washed down with Fanta. I ate them on the front decking, watching the sun go down. Tumbleweed rolled past and I snorted. How Cliché.Laying back, with my head resting against my arms, I started to doze off. The temperature had gone down, so the heat was comfortable now. Noises of nature rattling in the wind was soothing, helping me fall into a deep sleep.

"That's a big one." Abe's voice sounded right behind me. "Rosey-peg, move if you want to keep your feet."

"It's _Rose."_ I spat out, still in my sleepy haze. "Don't. Forget. It."

"Fucking hell!" Abe grabbed my hands and pulled me towards the door.

"Hey, what are you—"

And that's when I heard it._ Rattle. Rattle. Rattle._ It wasn't nature rattling in the wind. Oh shit. On the porch step a thick rattlesnake twisting around, shaking its tail. Its slimy looking scales glimmered from the moonlight, sending cold shivers up my spine. I didn't need to be told twice to get moving. I hurried into the house with Abe, ready to shut, lock and bolt the door closed.

"What a good 'Welcome the fuck Home'." I muttered angrily. "If I wake up with that thing lying next to me, no joke, I _will _sign myself into the closest boarding school around."

Abe didn't take my threat as seriously as he should have, plonking down into the armchair next to the fire patting Tank's head. "Night, Sweetheart."

I grumbled angry words the whole way through my bedtime ritual of brushing teeth and getting into bed. Even being more restless than before, thanks to our 'visitor', I still fell asleep quickly, letting all the stress and nervousness slip out of my head as I dreamt about beaches and ice cream.

**[~~~~]**

If there was one thing that I hated more than the usual school, it was an unusual school. At least at my old school I had friends who I could muck about with. Here, people had all decided to come to school dressed as Indiana Jones. I had to do a double take when I first walked into the school grounds. My first lessons were hell. People were staring constantly, probably because I wasn't wearing a cowboy hat. I got so pissed at the end of my last lesson before lunch that I snapped at the closest girl staring at me.

"Quit staring before I gorge your eyes out with this." I held up my maths compass menacingly. The girl, as cute and tiny as she may have been, pulled the finger she had been using to twirl round her blonde ringlets to flip me off.

"Don't fuck with me, new girl." She pronounced every word precisely. "I can turn this school against you quicker than you can lift up that slutty little skirt of yours."

Woah. I was not expecting that much venom from such a small girl. At that thought, I looked closer at the bitch. She had a Paul's Boutique bag propped on her snap-able arm, a big pair of white framed sunglasses on the top of her head and a thick layer a bubble gum pink lip gloss on her pouting lips. Yeah, that was the typical bitch look.

She saw me scanning my eyes over her, and smirked proudly.

"That's what I thought." She said. Hopping off her stool, she flipped on her sunglasses, strutting away leaving me in a mist of overpowering perfume. She tottered over to a hunky brown haired boy. Leaning up to him, she whispered something and they both looked back at me. I clutched my compass tightly as someone coughed loudly behind me.

"Nice perfume, Mia." A tall girl with black hair said. Mia looked straight at her with a face full of attitude. "Mmm… yes. What is that? Ohhh… Did you go swimming in a vat of foxes piss again? Or did you just forget to wipe properly this time?"

I started laughing and the black haired girl joined in whilst Mia scowled in the corner. The black haired girl sighed in satisfaction and pulled up a seat next to me, swinging her bag onto the table. "Oh my, that girl _will_ scratch your eyes out if you're not careful."

I rubbed me eyes subconsciously. "Too bad she doesn't know I'll scratch back. And when I do, there'll be scars."

The girl laughed again, brushing her black hair from her eyes. "Wow, we think alike. I'm Tasha."

"Rose."

"You're new right? I would have noticed you before in those clothes." She pointed at my denim skirt and black top. Giving her a weird look, I noticed that she was also dressed like a sane person too. Unlike everyone else, she didn't look like a) a cowboy or b) a preppy bitch. She nodded at my expression. "Yeah, I know. These people need to get out of the state every once in a while."

"Or ditch Cowboys' Digest magazine." I said loudly, feeling sickened by the boy next to me who was wearing a white cowboy hat.

"Babes, whatever you are, I don't think you're a miracle worker. Cowboys' Digest is the plague among many people here. It's like their air." Tasha said, trying to keep a straight face.

"And it's managed to infect my old sap of a dad." I shuddered. "I had to rip out a page of the newspaper this morning because it had an ad for a horse ranch on sale. Who knows what might have happened if he saw that?"

Tasha was half looking at me and half looking at someone behind me, she waved a hand forward and shouted "Christian!" before turning her attention back to me. "Precautions have to be taken. If you come in tomorrow smelling like horse shit, then that's the end of our budding friendship, babes."

A shadow loomed from behind me as someone walked closer and closer, finally taking a halt at where Tasha was.

"Christian, this is Rose. Rose, this is my brother Christian." Tasha patted my wrist as she introduced me to an emo looking boy. Okay, he was a kind of a hot emo boy but that's not where my tastes lie. His black hair mirrored Tasha's silky locks despite his jagged haircut that covered the most part of his eyes. In my head, an emo was supposed to wear eyeliner, tight jeans and an eyebrow piercing which was the total opposite of Christian. The only thing he seemed to have in common was the black attire and the grumpy face.

He looked unenthusiastically at me. "Why did you call me over here? I don't want to meet your new friends Tasha."

Tasha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because you looked so cheery over there by yourself, and chill out, she hates cowboys too."

It would be an overstatement to say Christian's interest peeked a bit, but at least he looked at little more comfortable being here than he did before. He sat down in the chair next to Tasha. "Oh."

"See, it's not so bad meeting people." She said in a horribly patronizing voice. I could tell she was trying to wind him up though.

"Shut up." He quipped back.

She widened her eyes with fake surprise and spoke in a teacher like voice. "Foul language! Mr. Ozera, do you not have any manners?"

"No."

I sat there swivelling my head like it was a tennis match, watching the siblings bicker. Tasha's mocking face turned maliciously sneaky. "Sorry about my brother, Rose. He's just so love sick and heartbroken and pining and –"

"_Shut up Tasha_!" Christian's eyes filled with hate as he stared at his sister. And if I didn't say so myself, he looked embarrassed.

"Why? It's not like it isn't obvious; moping around all day."

The conversation had taken an awkward turn and I had the urge to back away slowly. Thankfully, I was saved by the bell. I packed my things hastily and swung my bag around my shoulder. Christian was still glaring evilly at Tasha but she had also collected her stuff together and laced an arm around mine, forcing us to walk off together.

"I'm really sick of his moping." She said, once we were out of earshot. "I think maybe if I joke around about it, he'll realise what a prat he's being."

"Erm…" Considering I had no experience in a full on lovey dovey relationship, I had no idea what to say. "Maybe he needs more time to get over her."

Tasha pulled her arm out of mine and wildly made hand gestures. "That's the thing! They never even hit it off! They never even talk to each other! It's just like some weird obsession he has. Fuck, I hope he's not like those creepy people in the movies who become obsessed with a girl and go all psycho on her and stuff…"

We pulled up at the lunch room now and I made a quick dash for the food; I was starving. I ordered a sloppy joe—Tasha remarked distastefully how it was made of beef tongue—and Tasha had an egg salad.

"I don't know, Tasha." I said through a mouthful of food. "It's probably a phrase or something, you know with all the guy hormones and shit."

"Yeah, you're right. It's just so annoying!" She crunched on a salad lea. "Unless you're willing to… get his mind off her?"

Some sloppy joe fell out my mouth. "No way!"

"It was worth a try." She sighed again. "Urgh, I need a drink."

It took me a second to realise she wasn't talking about soft drinks. I looked at her hopefully. "Me too."

"Babes, we should get some liquor, invite a few people—including this one guy I think you'll like very much— and have a 'Welcome to Arizona, Rose' party."

My eyes lit up. "You're just using the 'Welcome to Arizona' crap as an excuse to get drunk." I told her with a sly smile.

"True." She said. "But, I need a title for it because when I party, I party hard."

"Tasha." I said, excitement starting to flow through my veins. "Bring it on."

**Hope you liked it, and if you did please review. I hate having to beg but it's the only way I'll continue. See yaa xx**


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